Aulani pool chairs

[maxbuffmelvin]

Coming from the East Coast, the more annual Aulani trips we take, the quicker we adjust our sleep to Hawaiian time, where we are no longer waking up super early like our earlier Aulani trips.

 

[jimmymc]

Different strokes of course, but if you fully adjust to Hawaii time you're making your trip home harder.

If you don't adjust or only adjust halfway, you get so many benefits. Easier trip home, easier to get pool chairs, easier to get dinner reservations, eating dinner during happy hour specials, not dealing with nighttime drunks, beating all of the tour groups at the big destinations. The best feeling in the world is when you visit the Byodo-In temple and you're literally the only people there, then when you leave you see a row of 20 tour buses pulling in from Waikiki and the cruise ships and you missed them entirely.

I'm not suggesting any special effort to wake up early, I'm just suggesting people not spend the special effort to fully adjust to the time change.

I stay on east coast time if I've camping or hiking out west. And for Hawaii, I did make a point to visit the more popular sites earlier in the trip. I'm honestly not even making an effort to change my internal clock, it's a natural adjustment.

 

[Carouselofplanning]

Different strokes of course, but if you fully adjust to Hawaii time you're making your trip home harder.

If you don't adjust or only adjust halfway, you get so many benefits. Easier trip home, easier to get pool chairs, easier to get dinner reservations, eating dinner during happy hour specials, not dealing with nighttime drunks, beating all of the tour groups at the big destinations. The best feeling in the world is when you visit the Byodo-In temple and you're literally the only people there, then when you leave you see a row of 20 tour buses pulling in from Waikiki and the cruise ships and you missed them entirely.

I'm not suggesting any special effort to wake up early, I'm just suggesting people not spend the special effort to fully adjust to the time change.

Plus you’re simply walking down to a lounge chair on the ocean with perfect temperature. You can sleep there, drink coffee and watch the sun come up, read a book or more likely read this message board lol. It’s not like you’re waking up to catch a bus to the park or even grabbing chairs at a regular old resort pool at a crazy hour.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Plus you’re simply walking down to a lounge chair on the ocean with perfect temperature. You can sleep there, drink coffee and watch the sun come up, read a book or more likely read this message board lol. It’s not like you’re waking up to catch a bus to the park or even grabbing chairs at a regular old resort pool at a crazy hour.

Not selling me on this. It’s not beach chairs that people are getting its pool chairs so no ocean view. It’s usually pretty hot when I go so not really perfect weather.

Those who like to do this more power to you but it’s not bliss you are selling in my book. I’d rather set my alarm wake up at a crazy hour call and pay for a chair.

 

[Carouselofplanning]

Not selling me on this. It’s not beach chairs that people are getting its pool chairs so no ocean view. It’s usually pretty hot when I go so not really perfect weather.

Those who like to do this more power to you but it’s not bliss you are selling in my book. I’d rather set my alarm wake up at a crazy hour call and pay for a chair.

There are many row 1 pool chairs that face the ocean (probably 75 in total). These are the early chairs. I agree I’m not getting up early to face Menehune Bridge or the water slides or to be in the 3rd row facing the chairs that face the beach. The beach chairs go later and you don’t need first row down there to have nice views. It’s also true this is much easier on the body earlier in your trip.

 

[VGCgroupie]

There are many row 1 pool chairs that face the ocean (probably 75 in total). These are the early chairs. I agree I’m not getting up early to face Menehune Bridge or the water slides or to be in the 3rd row facing the chairs that face the beach. The beach chairs go later and you don’t need first row down there to have nice views. It’s also true this is much easier on the body earlier in your trip.

I will have to look this month when I am there. I guess that’s how much I decided to not care about pool chairs when I went last year that I didn’t even notice some face the ocean. I know the maile deck chairs do, I figured those wouldnt be as desirable since it’s hard to watch kids in the water from that area.

 

[Carouselofplanning]

I will have to look this month when I am there. I guess that’s how much I decided to not care about pool chairs when I went last year that I didn’t even notice some face the ocean. I know the maile deck chairs do, I figured those wouldnt be as desirable since it’s hard to watch kids in the water from that area.

The best chairs that face the ocean at the pool where you can watch the kiddos are at the Infiniti pool. People go for the ones to the left of it (when facing the ocean) because those are truly oceanfront. But the best ones for a view while also watching the pool are right behind the pool but still face the ocean. The first photo is me sitting in those chairs with a hot Malasada from the Olelo room (sold to-go in the am). The second is a photo I took of my son from my chair with zoom. But it shows you can watch the pool.

 

[VGCgroupie]

The best chairs that face the ocean at the pool where you can watch the kiddos are at the Infiniti pool. People go for the ones to the left of it (when facing the ocean) because those are truly oceanfront. But the best ones for a view while also watching the pool are right behind the pool but still face the ocean. The first photo is me sitting in those chairs with a hot Malasada from the Olelo room (sold to-go in the am). The second is a photo I took of my son from my chair with zoom. But it shows you can watch the pool.

Love that photo.

 

[Carouselofplanning]

Love that photo.

Me too! You get why I’m trying to figure out getting points here. Have to go back. It’s just too nice of a place. Enjoy the trip!

 

[AlohaMinnie]

My questions as well--how do you go about this? The "chair issue" is one of the reasons we are not sure about visiting Aulani

 

[VGCgroupie]

My questions as well--how do you go about this? The "chair issue" is one of the reasons we are not sure about visiting Aulani

It's honestly not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, at least for us. Virtually all major resorts have pool chair issues.

 

[bakofarmgirl]

the whole trip of aulani outweighs any chair stress in my opinion

 

[gsdweller]

If you lined up all the people that constantly complain about the pool chair issues, then screamed "Hey Karen!", they would all turn around.

 

[pbauswell]

I just returned from our trip (9/18-25). This is a view from a front row of chairs looking over the infinity pool. To get this location, I arrived at 6:15 AM. We are from the east coast, so the early arrival for this view was not a problem at all. On that morning, there were probably 10 different groups seated around the main pool and in some of the ocean-facing chairs. If you notice the seat on the far left of the photo, we sat there a few days later. I arrived at 6 AM to grab that particular spot and enjoy the relative quiet. Someone was already seated in the center two chairs on that row. So if these are the kind of views you hope to have, I would recommend arriving no later than 6:15 AM. Also, I saw one lady and her small son without pool bands being removed from the pool. It appears they were not actually guests at the resort. Staff were also inquiring about seats that appeared to have been unattended for more than an hour while we were there. So at least some attention was being paid to the pool bands and chairs.

 

[VGCgroupie]

View attachment 1010469
I just returned from our trip (9/18-25). This is a view from a front row of chairs looking over the infinity pool. To get this location, I arrived at 6:15 AM. We are from the east coast, so the early arrival for this view was not a problem at all. On that morning, there were probably 10 different groups seated around the main pool and in some of the ocean-facing chairs. If you notice the seat on the far left of the photo, we sat there a few days later. I arrived at 6 AM to grab that particular spot and enjoy the relative quiet. Someone was already seated in the center two chairs on that row. So if these are the kind of views you hope to have, I would recommend arriving no later than 6:15 AM. Also, I saw one lady and her small son without pool bands being removed from the pool. It appears they were not actually guests at the resort. Staff were also inquiring about seats that appeared to have been unattended for more than an hour while we were there. So at least some attention was being paid to the pool bands and chairs.

These seats are amazing. I spend so little time looking for or worrying about pool chairs I didnt even realize such great spots existed.

 

[WinterSolider]

These seats are amazing. I spend so little time looking for or worrying about pool chairs I didnt even realize such great spots existed.

I think that's probably the best way to frame it for people who have never been and looking to get a sense of what to expect.

If you're going to be very very picky about getting THE BEST pool chairs, yeah you're going to have to get their early and stake out a spot. If you don't really care where you sit as long as you have somewhere, you'll be fine.

And yes, for those wondering, Aulani does enforce both wristbands and the "if you abandon your chair for hours, you're going to lose it" policies. No, the enforcement is not perfect because how could it possibly be? But you'll see them fold towels a certain way to indicate "your time is almost up" at a chair and if you don't return to use them, the towels will be removed entirely.

 

[pbauswell]

I think that's probably the best way to frame it for people who have never been and looking to get a sense of what to expect.

If you're going to be very very picky about getting THE BEST pool chairs, yeah you're going to have to get their early and stake out a spot. If you don't really care where you sit as long as you have somewhere, you'll be fine.

And yes, for those wondering, Aulani does enforce both wristbands and the "if you abandon your chair for hours, you're going to lose it" policies. No, the enforcement is not perfect because how could it possibly be? But you'll see them fold towels a certain way to indicate "your time is almost up" at a chair and if you don't return to use them, the towels will be removed entirely.

I totally agree. I will say that people arriving after noon found it very challenging to find grouped chairs together. They could locate the random chair here or there, but not necessarily a group of available chairs. And if you plan to spend most of your time in the pool, please consider using fewer chairs than your group needs to simply drop off your towels and items. The pools are wonderful and quite popular.